Galby Machine Built Trails

Hey peeps,

Below are a couple of exciting projects that we've been working on up here in the 'ham.

Cheers,
EB

Machine-built jump trails coming soon to Galbraith Mountain.

The WMBC is pleased to announce that we are going to build 2 machine-built jump trails on Galbraith Mountain in 2010. Both of these projects are a couple years in the making, so it’s very exciting to see our plans coming to fruition. The WMBC has partnered with a local machine owner, and a local machine operator, and will also be relying on volunteers to help complete this project.

Which trails are going to be built with the machine?

The Luge:
The current Luge route is an old moto trail that does not use the available terrain well and, as a result, is a very quick trail that has major erosion issues. The plan is to have a dramatic reroute of the Luge to use the hillside much better, extend the trail’s length, address the drainage issues, and build berms, table-tops, step-ups and step-downs. The re-routed trail will have 15 berms, lots of pump rollers, and 25+ jumps. The Green line is the existing trail and orange line is the new routing (approximate).

Upper Mullet (future name TBD):
This will start where an old trail called 12 Monkeys used to start near Wonderland and the view spot near the top of Evolution. It will end directly across from Mullet and help our goal of connectivity on the mountain. Our routing challenge was to avoid several boggy sections, a good-sized ravine, and to avoid any conflict with the Wonderland Trail. The new trail will roughly have 12 big berms, some pump rollers, and 15+ jumps. Again, the green lines are existing trails and the orange line is the new trail (approximate).

Why use a machine instead of building by hand?
By using a machine (specifically, a mini excavator in this situation), we’ll be able to build the trails significantly faster with far less volunteer manpower. These essentially are new lines with many features that would take a very long time to create by hand. Additionally, they allow us to better use the terrain and easily create table-top jumps, step-ups, and step-downs and big berms to help the progression of local riders.

Who’s doing the work?
WMBC Trail Crew Leaders Bill Hawk, Matt Durand, Colin Tobin and Eric Brown are leading the build process and have scouted, flagged, and cleared the two new work zones. We are very fortunate to have a local trail builder named Andrew Fletcher-Love, who has thousands of hours building trails with a machine, willing to volunteer his time. Andrew will be running the mini-excavator the bulk of the time and also was present during the routing process. Also assisting us was Duncan MacKenzie, who is a friend and fellow trail builder from Whistler. Duncan has lots of experience designing and building these types of trails as a builder in the Whistler Bike Park and helped us route our lines appropriately. The good news is we weren’t too far off with our initial line choice, but it was very helpful to have his expertise.

Where are we getting the machine?
Mark Salisbury of Fanatik Bike has graciously donated his personal mini-excavator for both projects. He also will trailer it and bring it to and from Galbraith for us.

What can you do to help?

Donate some $$$ to the cause! We set up a PayPal account at the WMBC website (http://www.whimpsmtb.com) specifically for the funding of this project. While the labor and equipment are being donated (estimated $5,000 value), we’ll need to pay for diesel fuel, grease, oil, drainage culverts, and a tune up on the machine before we return it. We estimate these costs to be around $750-1500.

Volunteer your time! During the build days, we would like to have 1-2 extra people be out there to help cut up timber, re-vegetate an area, do some clean up work behind the machine, and some finishing work shaping jumps. The goal is to keep the machine building trail and features, and not having to do as much of the cleanup work. We’ll be creating sign up sheets for people, as most of the building will happen during the week.

Thanks for your help with funding and building these two new jump trails!

Very nice situation, making it happen. It might help people to see the value of something like this by putting a price tag on this without such extraordinary volunteerism from everybody. This project would easily be contracted out to bid for 30 to 40k and by everybody chipping in we get that value for a mere $1500 bucks. Tell people to dig change from their couches and under their car seat, cuz when you think of it that way it's a total no-brainer bargain!.

FM, that'd be really cool of ya, but I know you've donated a bunch of $$ to Evergreen, so don't feel obligated brotha. I'm checking to see on the official status on the WMBC and will get you a Tax ID if we've got it. More to come.

Originally Posted by woodway

If it's not, we can probably do some sort of lash-up, donate to the Evergreen trail fund with the monies designated for Galby trail work.

woodway, smart thinking. Hold tight fellas and I'll see what I can get for ya.

Not really trying to defocus too much here, but when i do the Kettle Fest i will be passing around the hat for Evergreen donations, which can be made to be Kettle Crest specific. While it's a very good thing to donate and keep the membership up, which pays staff, which the paid staff provides Evergreen the capability to funnel dough into something specifically. (y'know time effort kinda thing)

This capability is something that i do certainly appreciate, as windows for making something like this, or keeping something open like Kettle, well those windows don't stay open forever...

UPDATE: Galby Machine Built Lines

So, a quick update. The Machine Built Trail plan has been approved by all parties involved. The Mini excavator will be hauled up tomorrow and work will commence on the Luge on Monday, February 15th!!

Donations Needed:
We have received $300 in donations for this project so far. We need to raise another $700 ASAP to be able to pull this off! Head on over to the WMBC website and click on the TOP "donate" button to ensure the funds are directed to the machine built trails.

Volunteer Help:
We'll also be signing up volunteers to work behind the machine on the days it's building. That will entail shaping berms and jumps, re-vegetating areas and using a plate compactor to get everything firmed up. If you have a day or two or 10 to volunteer, email Bill Hawk (or PM me) your name, number and day(s) you're available and we'll get you signed up and more details. We are looking at a Monday thru Friday 9-4 work schedule: Feb. 15-19th and 22-26th and March 1-5. Ideally, we'll jump immediately from the Luge to Upper Mullet to keep our momentum and take advantage of the machine and Andrew's availability.

FYI, this should also serve notice that, as of Monday, the Luge will be closed to riding until work is completed. We'll have the machine on it, the line will be in progress and the line as it currently exists, will be no longer (we're shutting down the old sections altogether). This is for both rider and the workers' safety. NO EXCEPTIONS.

If you want to get to Atomic Dog, either hit the Woodle, Prison Love, or Upper Pigs. When the Luge is ready for public consumption, it'll be re-opened. Many thanks to everyone for your patience!

Hey EB, I just made a donation and I don't want the t-shirt and I already have a map. Do me a favor and sell them to someone who wants them and put that money to good work as well. Awesome work everyone.

Hey EB, I just made a donation and I don't want the t-shirt and I already have a map. Do me a favor and sell them to someone who wants them and put that money to good work as well. Awesome work everyone.

Thanks Jason. Will do. I'll pass that info. along.

We're hoping to have both lines running by early April. Plenty of time for them to get dialed before "riding season" really kicks off. Wait, riding season hasn't really even ended this year!!

The Luge is now officially closed. We got the mini ex on the hill yesterday and actually started down the trail a little bit to help keep the machine from getting messed with on the road. Myself and a couple other builders were just watching in amazement as it yanked a few stumps out that would’ve taken us several hours and a couple of dull saws to get removed.

Work truly commences on Monday.

A few pics.

Kyle Salisbury unloading the machine:

Entrance cleared. This is not done by a long shot….just clearing so we could get the machine off the road.

Looking up the same section. This will have a ladder roller as a gate feature (i.e. you have to be “this” tall to ride this coaster) into a couple of pump humps that can be doubled for advanced riders.

That’ll lead into the first right berm taking shape.

Thanks to Mark and Kyle Salisbury for hauling that sucker up on the hill and RAM construction for the generous donation of culverts.

Thanks for the donation! We are trying to change some perceptions of what a machine built line looks like. Right now a lot of skilled guys are putting their finishing touches on this trail and its coming out epic..... Anybody that comes up to check it out will not be disappointed. Keep the donations coming and thank you.

The Luge update

Hi all,

First of all, I want to personally thank the folks that donated to the cause espcecially the 2-0-6'ers who have really thrown down. If you can't be out shoveling, then that's the 2nd best option and all of us very much appreciate it. To date, we've raised $2400 dollars for the project. Amazing!

So, we've had 8 days of working on the Luge. We've got the best riders and builders in the 3-6-0 working their tails off to create one of the sickest trails in the PNW. Colin Tobin and Andrew Fletcher Love have been out 9 straight days (counting today) and a host of other badasses have been making this happen. Despite having the machine to clear and move dirt, there's still a TON of dirt moving and shaping to be done and we've had 8-20 guys out most days.....hence our progress.

Progress:
We're a bit over 1/2 done with the trail and, so far, it's something that all of the crew is very proud to be hanging our names on. Of course, we've made game time decisions to move some corners back and mild tweaks, but our routing was pretty much dialed out of the gate. So far, we're at 23 jumps - including pumpers that can be doubled. I'm sorry....did I just say 23 jumps??? I sure did and many of these are going to push people's limits. I think it safe to say that this trail and Mo' Hawk (aka upper mullet) are gonna be game changers for trailbuilding and rider progression in our area.

For rider safety, this will not be open it up to the public until every jump 100% dialed and everything is caseable. We'll continue to make tweaks until then, so an "opening" date is anywhere from 2-4 weeks.

Cheers,
EB

Some pics:

Opening rollers (will get rounded with the compactor):

Leads into the first right berm. Note the drain on the right side after the berm. Not an afterthought.

Which leads into a little roller that can be hipped. FYI, the “old” section of trail was to the left and has been totally covered up.

Berm 2 (left hander). This will get narrowed a bunch after we finish a drain issue.

Leads into the first bigger jump that will have an advanced side (tombstone) and an intermediate side.

2nd left berm getting shaped by Clayton and Courtney.

Colin and Clayton shaping the next hip.

When those dudes catch up to the machine, Clayton, Colin and Chris got after it transplanting ferns and moving some organic in place to help tighten the trail in the first left berm. We’ll keep this going as the machine heads down the hill.

The 2nd left hand berm turned out SO nice. Most shaping is done here, so we’ll bring in the trail tread and transplant ferns on this.

Thad, Colin and Vaughn shaping.

Which turned into this hip:

Lorin moving dirt after the hip:

That leads to a flattish section, hits a berm and then goes into a two sets of pumpers that can be doubled. I love how tight this all looks after the guys shaped and transplanted ferns.

Hawk and Josh shaping the section after the rollers. Hawk and Durand have emails discussing this project from 4 years ago....that's serious perseverance. I've got nothing but regard for Bill.

Andrew working his magic where it crosses the old trail. There is a stepdown in this spot now.

A massive 180 deg. berm

Which leads into this hip (before it got finished).

Which leads into a couple of new jumps. This section was super gnarly with old logs.

Josh, Britney, Brandon and Kyle worked on a big set of rollers that can be doubled.